Educational Experience to close after 43 years of supplying ECEC

Educational Experience will cease trading at the end of May 2020 following a decision made by  parent company Winc, who announced a “rationalisation and simplification” of the company’s portfolio of brands.   

Educational Experience (Edex) has been a feature of the Australian early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector for the past 43 years. The business was founded in 1977 by three Newcastle based school friends, Stephen Thomas, Tony Sedgwick and Murray Jackson who decided to go into business together by purchasing a local toy company for the sum of $4,000. 

Although originally started as a primary school resource supplier, the business quickly began to capitalise on the strong growth of new ECEC services in the 1990’s.

The original founders are no longer part of the business, having sold Edex to the Australian arm of US-based office supply giant Staples in 2014 which was subsequently rebranded as Winc in 2017.

The company noted in their statement “Today we celebrate, commemorate and reflect upon over four decades in the world of early childhood education. We sincerely appreciate and thank you for being a part of our moments, memories and stories.”

Over the course of the coming months Edex will be conducting sales and promotions across all product categories as it seeks to sell down existing stock levels and is suggesting that interested parties should subscribe to their newsletter and/or monitor their social media channels to receive notifications. 

To read the full statement please click here.